The story of the “missing” getaway car supposedly used in the recent Newry bomb blast is a bizarre one.

Apparently shortly after the blast police were alerted to the possibility that a burnt out car found in nearby Drumintee may have been used by the dissident terrorists to escape.

Quite rightly fearing it could be there to lure officers into a booby-trap attack, the cops didn’t get too close. Yet somehow within the next 48 hours the car was moved. Not by the security forces. But by “unknown persons”.

Latest PSNI update — it was “subsequently recovered (by the cops) for further investigation”.

Where this leaves the forensic investigation — who knows?

PSNI bosses were obviously right to treat the vehicle with caution. (South Armagh is described by one local politician as a slow-go, if not a no-go, area for them.)

But you can’t help feeling that surely someone could have been keeping an eye on the thing.

Where are those special forces Hugh Orde assured us last year had been redeployed here?

It’s hardly reassuring that even a suspected getaway car is able to make a getaway.